


Panic

by xoxoMouse



Series: PJO Personal Canon (Solangelo Centric) [9]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Canon Divergence, Capture the Flag, Capture the flag needs a safeword, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, PTSD, Panic Attack, Sad, This is why we shouldn't let the traumatized kids play war games, Trauma, Triggers, chb, genuinely that would be a good idea for them, solangelo, the battle of manhattan, this one is very descriptive so please don't read at risk of your own triggers, yea Will has issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-30
Updated: 2020-01-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:41:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22471231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xoxoMouse/pseuds/xoxoMouse
Summary: A game of capture the flag triggers Will's PTSD from the Battle of Manhattan. Nico calms him down but it leaves him wondering if anyone really won that war if this is how the best of them ended up...(I wrote this a hot minute ago but I don't have another idea for a capture the flag story so I'm entering it for Solangelo Week 2020 Day 7, Capture the flag)
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Series: PJO Personal Canon (Solangelo Centric) [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1884076
Comments: 13
Kudos: 189
Collections: Solangelo Week 2020





	Panic

**Author's Note:**

> The second little drabble in my imagery study/practice thing got a lil...well. It made me sad hope it gives you something to project onto, kids.

This was not the time nor the place to have a panic attack, Will thought to himself. His back was pressed against the rough bark of a tree, his bow was poised and ready in his hands as he drew in ragged breaths, trying to calm himself. It was just capture the flag, it was just a game—he knew it was true, but that didn’t stop his mind and heart from racing. Somewhere outside of himself he was aware he was in the woods at camp in the middle of January, supposed to be scouting for Nico who was guarding the red team’s flag; but in his head it was Summer. He could smell the heat rising off the Manhattan pavement, he could smell the coppery blood in the air. People were bleeding out, his cabin was almost out of nectar and ambrosia and Michael…Will was the one giving orders now. There were fires outside, his friends were dying in front of him and—

“Nico!” Gods, fuck, he was giving away his position. He was so loud, though, and sound echoed in the woods so well; there was no way Nico hadn’t heard him.

“Nice try, Solace,” a kid in a red hawked helmet said, emerging from the bushes to his left with her sword trained on him. “You can’t trick your boyfriend into leaving the flag unguarded with one little scream.”

There wasn’t a trace of blue anywhere, just kids from the red team closing in on him, pointing their weapons at him and cornering him.

His chest was so tight; his ribs were trying to collapse themselves. He tried to remind himself of where he was, of who these people were. Not Luke’s army, not monsters, not his friends who’d died years prior—there were kids. He dropped his bow and pulled at his hair to try and snap himself out of it, to control _anything_ that was happening.

There were dead kids in piles. There were bodies lying too close to monsters, where Will and his siblings couldn’t even retrieve them. He saw another camper— _former_ camper, one of Luke’s soldiers, strike down someone from the Athena cabin and rip their camp beads from their neck as a trophy, tying it around their spear. Will had to swallow and look for the wounded he could heal, for the people he could still save. He found one, a camper lying half under a car to shield herself, to hide herself from enemy attack. Her entire stomach was sliced open, collar to pelvis and the smell…gods the smell, blood and sweat and fear mixing in the Summer heat would have been enough to make him throw up if he hadn’t been living in it for the past two days.

She reached for him before she died. She reached out to grab his hand in hers, her eyes pleading with him to stay with her even though she was so far beyond saving. He was the last person she ever saw.

He sunk further down the trunk of the tree, collapsing in on himself, rocking back and forth as he tried to breathe, as he tried to block out the eyes of the dead.

“Is he…Is he okay?” Asked the Ares camper, her sword faltering at the sight of him.

Harsh footsteps broke branches and crunched leaves underfoot as someone rushed into the small area where they were gathered.

“Does he _look_ okay?” Nico snarled, sinking to his boyfriend’s side immediately, wrapping an arm around Will’s shuddering shoulders and holding him tightly.

“Dude!” One of the other kids shouted. “The _flag!”_

Nico pulled the wadded red fabric from his coat pocket and chucked it at the boy. “Take it and _leave,”_ He ordered.

The red team took the warning and filed off in the other direction, leaving the two of them alone, Will shaking in Nico’s arms as he tried to ground him.

“Where are you?” He asks.

Will’s face is scrunched up, tears slipping down his cheeks. Nico slid his fingers in between Will’s to keep him from ripping his hair out and squeezed his hand, once, twice, three times.

“I’m home.”

Nico nodded. “You are. But where _are_ you?”

“Manhattan,” Will gasped. “I’m in Manhattan and everyone is dead.”

Nico rocked him back and forth, Will’s face pressed into his shirt and him sobbing against Nico’s chest. “We won, Will. Remember? We won the war.”

“Did we?”

They stay there long after the game has ended, long after everyone has been called in for dinner. Chiron found them after the bonfire, still curled into each other at the base of the tree.

“Boys,” he said cautiously. “It’s time for bed.”

And as they trudged back to the Apollo cabin hand in hand, leaning on each other for support, Nico mulled over what Will said hours ago. Did anyone really win that war? They said they won, but Nico wasn’t really sure anymore.

Chiron turned a blind eye as Nico followed Will into Cabin 7, it wasn’t like this was the first time.

They settled into Will’s bunk, anyone who was awake around them polite enough to keep their breathing even to pretend to be asleep. They held each other close, trying to find sleep, trying to end this terrible day as quickly as possible. Nico was still awake when Will’s breathing evened out, his chest rising and falling slowly against him. He finally let his eyes close and his cheek rest against Will’s hair. He squeezed Will’s hand again, ever so slightly, once, twice, three times. _I love you._

And even though Will was beginning to snore, Nico felt his hand twitch against his own.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes this is the second time I've used the hand-squeeze 'i love you's today. Don't call me out, it's sweet


End file.
